Walking with Dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs is a six-part dinosaur television documentary mini-series that was produced by the BBC, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and first aired in the United Kingdom in 1999. The series was subsequently aired in the United States on the Discovery Channel with Branagh's narration replaced with that of Avery Brooks. The series uses computer-generated imagery and animatronics to recreate the reign of the dinosaurs, beginning in the late Triassic period and concluding in the late Cretaceous period at the K-T boundary mass extinction event, 66 million years ago. The Guinness Book of World Records reported that Walking with Dinosaurs was the most expensive documentary series per minute ever made. Blurb Imagine you could witness a prehistoric sunset - imagine you are watching insectivorous pterosaurs chase moths in the moist evening air and bull Torosaurus lock horns over a young female. This is no longer a dream. Walking with Dinosaurs makes that distant world as real and natural as images from today's Serengeti. Tracing the 145 million-year history of dinosaurs, from their first appearances to their abrupt demise, this series marks a watershed in television imagery. Classic natural history techniques, leading edge computer technology and animatronics combined with the latest scientific findings, recreate the sights and sounds of an endlessly fascinating era. Walking with Dinosaurs brings to life the mystery and excitement of the age when these reptiles roamed our planet. Episodes Specials Gallery IMG 20181020 170704.jpg 2009-uk04walkingwithdinosteam.jpg Untitled 6.jpg dino2_wallpaper.jpg|Promotional Wallpaper #2 dino3_wallpaper.jpg|Promotional Wallpaper #3 dino5_wallpaper.jpg|Promotional Wallpaper #5 WwdDiploWide.jpg Video File:BBC1 Balloon Walking with Dinosaurs ident (Sunday 3rd October 1999)|A special station ident used on BBC ONE in 1999 for the premiere of Walking with Dinosaurs. Companion book A companion book written by Tim Haines was published in 1999 to coincide with the series. Like there are six episodes in the documentary, there are six chapters in the book however, there are some notable differences. Some of the locations were changed in the book (e.g. New Blood is set in Ghost Ranch in the book rather than Arizona in the documentary). The book also elaborates on the background of each story and the book goes more in depth into the science on which the series is based on. The book also includes descriptions on the creatures that were featured in the series but were not identified and even creatures that were not included in the series. ''Arena Spectacular'' A live theatrical adaptation was created in Australia and began touring in early 2007 (starting in Sydney's Acer Arena, and continuing to Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide & Melbourne). Coming from the mind of William May, the show features life-size mechanical dinosaurs operated by teams of puppeteers and drivers as well as music by James Brett. It was produced by Malcolm C. Cooke & Jill Bryant and directed by Scott Faris. The leading role of the paleontologist (Huxley) was played by both Bruce Spence and Felix Nobis in the original Australian version. The role of Huxley is currently played by James Roberts & Jonathan Bliss. Featured creatures *''Allosaurus'' *''Ankylosaurus'' *''Brachiosaurus'' *''Iguanodon'' (carcass) *''Liliensternus'' (this dinosaur doesn't appear in the TV program) *''Ornithocheirus'' *''Plateosaurus'' *''Stegosaurus'' *''Torosaurus'' *''Tyrannosaurus'' *''Utahraptor'' Film adaptation : See also: Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie Walking with Dinosaurs is a family film produced by BBC Earth that was released in theaters on December 20, 2013. Scientific inaccuracies One of the main criticisms about Walking with Dinosaurs is the amount of scientific errors it includes. *There is no evidence that Coelophysis was a cannibal. It has been recently found that the animals found within one of the Coelophysis specimens was in fact a small crocodilian. *''Plateosaurus'' ' forelimbs were not designed to be used of walking but as this discovery was uncovered after Walking with Dinosaurs aired, this error is excusable. *''Plateosaurus'' lived in Europe not in the Americas and it did not live at the same time as Coelophysis. *''Diplodocus'' could never reach maturity in only a decade. The minimum amount of time for Diplodocus to reach maturity is roughly forty years. *''Ornitholestes'' lacked a nasal crest and might had been feathered. *''Liopleurodon'' never grew up to 25 meters in length nor weighed 150 tonnes. The largest species of Liopleurodon, L. ferox had a maximum length of 6 to 7 meters and had a maximum weight of one to two tonnes. It also did not live 149,000,000 years ago. Censorship In the initial U.S. broadcasts of the series, a few scenes were omitted from some of the episodes. The most notable deletions were a shot of the Thrinaxodon pair devouring their offspring, and a scene where a dead-in-shell Tyrannosaurus embryo is preyed upon by a pair of Didelphodon. The DVD and VHS contains the original UK broadcast, so the omitted scenes were restored. Critical reaction Walking with Dinosaurs was meet with high critical acclaim following its initial broadcast. The series won two BAFTAs for Innovation and Best Original Television Music and earned six Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning for Outstanding Animated Program, Outstanding Special Visual Effects and Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Programming – Sound Editing. In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 1999, voted on by industry professionals, Walking with Dinosaurs was placed 72nd. Related Media Short Bites In 2000, ABC And BBC released a shorter version of each episodes, focused on a species of the series, each episode was narrated by Sean Barrett. ''Prehistoric Planet'' In 2002, a series called Prehistoric Planet was created. It was an edited version of the series narrated by Ben Stiller targeted to younger audiences, and it aired on the Discovery Kids channel. Though all episodes of season 2, except for the finale, used footage from Walking with Beasts. ''Andy's Dinosaur Adventures'' and Andy's Prehistoric Adventures Andy's Dinosaur Adventures and Prehistoric Adventures is an educational television series targeted towards young children which aired on CBeebies. The series often uses scenes from Walking with Dinosaurs and its specials to depict the dinosaurs mentioned in the programme. http://web.archive.org/web/20000929131233/http://www.bbc.co.uk:80//dinosaurs/ Category:Series Category:Walking with... trilogy Category:Walking with Dinosaurs Category:Series that aired in 1999